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YOUR NEW BEST FRIENDS
Get to know our team.
Chris Vendilli
CEO / Founder
Chris Vendilli
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.”– Henry David Thoreau
Chris is a veteran of the United States Air Force where he led Security Forces Raven Teams on missions around the globe. Additionally, Chris served 8 years with the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, where he spent the latter half of his time there as a detective in the Computer Crime Unit (CCU). Present day, Chris spends most of his waking hours “wearing all the hats” as the founder of Vendilli Digital Group. The company is a certified Veteran-owned business that primarily helps B2B manufacturers and professional services companies increase online visibility, improve sales processes, and delight their customers. Chris’s team at Vendilli has expertise in web design and development, SEO, inbound marketing, paid search, and sales and marketing automation programs. Vendilli Digital Group is certified in multiple Google programs and is a Platinum-tiered HubSpot Solutions Partner. A lifelong technophile turned entrepreneur, he currently resides in Wexford, Pennsylvania in a houseful of ladies, with his wife, Tracey, and their three young daughters: Natalie, Giulia (pronounced like “Julia”), and Nora. In his free time you’ll find him camping, fishing, hunting or playing beer league ice hockey with a bunch of guys who refuse to admit they’re already over the hill.
Work Skills: Leadership, entrepreneurship, marketing, advertising, technology, management, and consulting.
Rob Donaldson
Executive Vice President / Partner
Rob Donaldson
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it” – Ferris Bueller
Rob has been a part of the multimedia industry for over 30 years. After graduating from Penn State University with a degree in Broadcast Communications, Rob started his company, Media Post, with his partners in the early 1990’s. Originally a video production company, Rob was instrumental in the creation of the web design/development department within the company. He merged his company with Vendilli Digital Group in early 2021 adding additional talent and capabilities to the Vendilli team. Today, Rob plays a key role in the direction, strategy and management of his client’s web design and development projects as well as their video productions. Rob currently resides in Bradford Woods with his wife Natalie and their four children, Matt, Ana, Sara and Caleb and their crazy lab Kaya. You’ll find Rob shuttling his kids to and from sports and activities or somewhere in the outdoors skiing or mountain biking (if he’s lucky)…
Work Skills: Strategic Planning, Project Management, Account Relations, Video Production/Integration
Danielle Matthews
Director of Operations
Danielle Matthews
“If we all worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true is really true, there would be little hope of advance.” – Orville Wright
An Art Institute of Pittsburgh graduate, Danielle brings the perfect blend of creativity and logic to the Vendilli team. As a small child, she could either be found with her hands covered in paint — observing and capturing the world around her — or incessantly questioning the ways in which the world works. Observant and highly perceptive, Danielle is an analytical problem solver who thrives on a good challenge. She sees new challenges as puzzles to be dissected, analyzed, and solved — enjoying the thrill of making seemingly disparate pieces of information fit together.
Danielle has spent her career working in marketing and advertising agencies serving as a graphic designer, art director, and leader before making the transition into operations. While she still enjoys flexing her creative muscles, she now has a strong focus on people, process, and profitability — ensuring that operations are consistent, properly resourced, effective, and aligned with client expectations.
Outside of work, Danielle spends her time managing the chaos of life with 2 hockey goalie kids. She's almost always wishing she was at the beach and is counting down the days until Halloween. She enjoys listening to heavy music, drinking coffee, reading, working out, or keeping someone on their toes with witty remarks and banter.
Danielle has spent her career working in marketing and advertising agencies serving as a graphic designer, art director, and leader before making the transition into operations. While she still enjoys flexing her creative muscles, she now has a strong focus on people, process, and profitability — ensuring that operations are consistent, properly resourced, effective, and aligned with client expectations.
Outside of work, Danielle spends her time managing the chaos of life with 2 hockey goalie kids. She's almost always wishing she was at the beach and is counting down the days until Halloween. She enjoys listening to heavy music, drinking coffee, reading, working out, or keeping someone on their toes with witty remarks and banter.
Work Skills: Art Direction, Website Design, Creative Strategy, Organizational Leadership, Process Development, Project Management, Communication, Resource Allocation, Operational Management & Planning
John Caruso
Director of Business Development
John Caruso
“The owner of the axe, as he released his hold on it, said that it was the apple of his eye; but I returned it sharper than I received it.” -Henry David Thoreau
John loves the opportunity to help others solve business problems with creative solutions, and so marketing and business development was a natural career path. For the last 10 years, John has helped foster new relationships and work in client services in the advertising industry, partnering with clients in a wide variety of industries such as financial, healthcare and consumer packaged goods to provide strategic planning, brand strategy, and a variety of other advertising solutions to help solve business needs. John has a BS in Marketing and Business Management from La Roche College where he was also a four-year athlete as an outfielder on the Redhawks baseball team. Outside of work, you can find him fishing, hunting, or canning vegetables from his garden.
Work Skills: Business Development, Sales, Strategy Development, Account Management, Marketing, Advertising.
Yusef Lockwood
Director of Web Development
Yusef Lockwood
“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.” – Richard Feynman
Since he was a child, Yusef always considered himself a builder and a tinkerer. To his parents dismay, this usually meant taking apart their electronics and appliances with no guarantee they’d be put back together. In school it meant crafting over 25 models of paper airplanes, designed for loops, boomerang flights, and even water bombs. Eventually though, it lent itself to computer. At 16 he built his first computer and 2 years later, his first website. Fast forward over 15 years, and Yusef has built hundreds of websites and written hundreds of thousands of lines of code. Since 2013, he’s been the “go-to” for all things technical at Vendilli Digital Group. He prides himself on crushing deadlines and squashing bugs with vigilance. Though his hobbies include running and frisbee, most of his free time is spent learning new tools and skills, improving his processes, and frequenting Github & Stack Exchange. The same attention to detail that enthused his paper aviation as a child, he now dedicates to keeping our clients' websites secure and running smoothly.
Work Skills: Server administration, Back-end code & API integration, front-end development, UX testing, deployment, maintenance, and support; Or in short, full-stack development.
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Micah Van Rijs
Director of Revenue Operations
Micah Van Rijs
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost:
The old that is strong does not whither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
Bilbo Baggins
Not all those who wander are lost:
The old that is strong does not whither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
Bilbo Baggins
A self described "business nerd", Micah has a deep interest in how all facets of business work together. Naturally, this led him to a passion for Revenue Operations. With a deep background in Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service Micah enjoys helping our clients solve complex business problems to help drive meaningful growth and revenue. Over the past 10 years he has worked across a number of industries including Professional Sports, Real Estate, and Software. As a previous HubSpot Employee in their consulting division, he has worked with clients spanning a variety of industries and sizes. When he isn't helping businesses grow you can find Micah in his woodshop working on a project for his house, Traveling with his wife, or out in the woods hunting and fishing.
Pete Gavin
Senior HubSpot Specialist
Pete Gavin
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." - Ferris Bueller
From a quick glance, Pete looks like your average marketing guy. When you peel back the layers you’ll find a man of many creative talents. He attended the University of Colorado and went on to work for leading companies coast-to-coast, such as CBS and The Knot. He started using HubSpot in 2012 and helped grow (and sell) a marketplace SaaS company. When he’s not logged into a marketing hub, you can find him making music or playing golf with his two boys in Pittsburgh.
Work Skills: Inbound Marketing, Content Strategy, Account Management, Advertising, Video Editing, Social Media, and Web Design.
Josh Currier
Director of Search Marketing
Josh Currier
“There are two types of people in this world: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.” - Unknown
Josh, aka “The SEO guy”, aka “The ads guy”, leverages his 12+ years of digital marketing experience to help our clients grow their traffic, increase conversions, and dominate their market. Being one of our veterans, Josh served in the US Navy as a crypto-linguist. He was born and raised in Alaska and refers to North Pole, AK as home (yes, it’s real). He currently lives in California with his wife and four daughters. When he isn’t engaged in digital marketing applications, he enjoys softball, cooking, and spending time with his family.
Work Skills: Content Strategy, Pay-Per-Click Advertising, SEO, Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Reporting & Research
Janelle Conner
Senior Account Manager
Janelle Conner
“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” - Mark Twain
Janelle is a jack-of-all-trades creative who never shies away from a challenge. After graduating from Slippery Rock University with a B.S. in Communication, she has spent her career getting a taste of everything the industry has to offer - and loving every minute of it. From copywriting to graphic design, and marketing to social media management, she has done it all. As your Account Manager, she is energized by both creative problem solving and her alarming addiction to caffeine. When not at work, you can find her serving as both a groupie and roadie for her musician husband A.J, hiking local trails, or taking road trips across the U.S. to see her favorite bands.
Work Skills: Inbound Marketing, Client Communications, Email Marketing, Branding, Copywriting, Graphic Design
Rob Brunskill
Senior Web Developer
Rob Brunskill
"Don't be mean; we don't have to be mean, because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are." - Buckaroo Banzai
Rob first started doing web development to create a portfolio site when completing a multimedia and animation degree, even though though web development wasn’t yet part of the curriculum at that time. Much of his server and administration experience comes from on-the-job work for various companies and projects, including a Carnegie Mellon’s Heinz College research group dedicated to introducing internet technologies to arts organizations. Rob has worked with a variety of digital media over 20+ years and tries to be a flexible problem-solver even for technologies that he’s not yet familiar with.
Work Skills: Back-end and front-end development, animation, server administration, maintenance and support.
Mike Roe
Web Developer
Mike Roe
"It’s all fun and games ’till someone loses an eye, then it’s just fun you can’t see." - James Hetfield
Located in the frozen tundra known as Canada, Mike has been near constantly attached to computers from a young age. He graduated the "Interactive Media Design - Web" course in 2018 from Georgian College and has had experience working for multiple agencies over the past few years, picking up more skills and learning on the job. He finds the best way to learn new skills is though trial and error, and also has experience working in Photoshop and Lightroom from a past stint in Photography.
Outside of work, you can usually find him either keeping active visiting his parent’s place and using their home gym, or being lazy and lounging around his apartment. Depends on the day really. One thing that is a constant is music. Whether he is working, hiking or playing games, there is always music in the background.
Work Skills: Front-end development, Animation, Photography, Image Editing, Site Maintenance and Support.
Chris Brennan
Web Developer
Chris Brennan
"There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it." - Oscar Wilde
With roots tracing back to the southwest like a tumbleweed, Chris navigated through the North and Midwest states before establishing a sense of permanence in Pittsburgh at the age of 18. He pursued his passion for creativity and design by enrolling at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, where he earned a bachelor's degree in Graphic Design. Around 2015, Chris taught himself how to build websites, and the learning process has been contagious ever since. In 2018, he joined Imagebox, specializing in WordPress development—flipping websites like hamburgers with tight deadlines. Throughout this period, Chris developed skills in client and team collaboration while managing projects, balancing budgets, writing code, and occasionally designing a logo here and there.
When Chris isn't occupied with building websites or reluctantly pulled into camping trips by friends, he opts for the tranquility of home. He spends his time with his cat, attempting (and often failing) to finish reading books, experimenting with cooking meals, watching sports, comedy, or tuning into geopolitics debates, and constantly resisting the urge to buy basketball cards.
Work Skills: Front-End Development, Project Management, Graphic Design, Maintenance, and Support
Brandon Dillon
Senior Graphic Designer
Brandon Dillon
“There has never been a sadness that can’t be cured by breakfast food.” – Ron Swanson
As a lifelong creative, Brandon pursued the arts by attending Pittsburgh Technical College (PTC) and graduating with a degree in Graphic Design in 2016. For the past 8+ years, he has worked in the field and continued to develop his skills into what they are today. Starting as a Student Marketing Designer for PTC and working his way toward his current title at Vendilli Digital Group, Brandon has acquired and developed a variety of skills along the way. His areas of focus include business branding, print advertising and design, webpage layout, and more. When he’s not in front of a computer screen, you’ll probably find him outdoors… unless it’s cold outside, the cold is one thing he hates! His favorite hobbies are mountain biking, ATV Riding, kayaking, camping, and cooking. Other hobbies include video games, listening to music way too loudly, and woodworking.
Work Skills: Graphic Design, UI/UX, Branding, Concept Development, Print Design, Digital Design, Page Layout, and Project Management
Erica Follette
Account Manager
Erica Follette
“Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor, and it can never be used to hurt you.” — Tyrion Lannister
Erica is a proud Edinboro University Alumni where she graduated with a B.S. in Strategic Communication and a Minor in Public Relations Branding and Imaging. Her passion is creating both new and engaging content that helps businesses tell their story and take their brand to the next level. In her free time, you can find Erica binge watching Netflix shows, practicing martial arts, drinking way too much coffee or tending to the needs of her spoiled dog and multiple reptiles.
Work Skills: Inbound Marketing, Social Media Management, Content Strategy and Content Creation.
Patrick Somers
Video Production Specialist
Patrick Somers
“A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something.” – A Wise Fortune Cookie
Pat has been an artist his whole life, with parents and siblings who are part of his creative force. His drive/motivation to work in a field where being creative and doing what he enjoys has been key. Commercial Art was the right choice for him. Pat graduated with an Associate Degree in Visual Communications from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in 1986. The climb to where he is today has given him a good sense of the importance of communicating effectively. Knowing customers’ needs, understanding their goals and creating strategies for their success has led to positive personal and company growth. Pat’s interests outside of work have helped him become who he is today—a dedicated creative. In his free time, he likes to play/record music, get out in nature, paint and sketch.
Work Skills: Video/Audio Pre and Post Production, 3D Animation, Concept Creation
INDUSTRY LEADERS & EXPERTS
Leading the way to growth
When you work with Vendilli Digital Group, you’re not just hiring another company to “get the job done” — though rest assured, we will. As industry-leading experts in digital marketing, web design, SEO, and more, we are our best selves when we act as a strategic growth partner to our clients.
Our flagship service, the Growth-Driven Design approach to marketing gives our clients access to a wide-range of our capabilities, services, leadership, and expertise. Acting as an extension of your business, let Vendilli Digital Group lead the way through the complexities of digital marketing. Using a 5-step proven process as our guide, we aim to crush our clients’ marketing goals through hard-work, dedication, open and honest conversation, and many cups of coffee.
